DEUTSCHE WELLE CUTBACKS

Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet ordered worldwide German broadcaster Deutsche Welle Wednesday to tighten its focus and to cut back its programming for Germans living abroad. Deutsche Welle, which is funded by the German taxpayer and broadcasts in some 30 languages, is to pare back its short wave and medium wave radio transmissions - once the backbone of the service - and concentrate on FM broadcasts in selected countries. Deutsche Welle, which receives EUR 273m in annual funding, also has television broadcasts and webcasts. The new instructions were based on a 400-page report by Deutsche Welle on how it plans to change. The internet, which allows Germans all over the world to catch up with news from German websites, has reduced the need for Deutsche Welle to address German expatriates. Regular German TV channels are also accessible by satellite far from home. In future Deutsche Welle, which has a workforce of 1,500, is to focus on its audience of non-Germans and pay greater attention to German foreign policy interests, according to the cabinet resolution. Up to 2013, it will also gradually focus on key audiences in Asia, Africa, Arab nations and Latin America. Short wave radio transmissions will be mostly dropped, and will only continue to a few regions, an announcement said.